Nine Transformative Ways Taylor Swift Has Changed The Landscape of The Music Industry

Taylor Swift's profound influence on the music industry during her remarkable 17-year journey since her debut, extends beyond her unmatched commercial achievements. It encompasses her impact on various aspects, from artists' rights to revolutionising the traditional album release model and reshaping discussions around song rights and ownership.

She stands up for the rights of artists

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In the 2010s, there was a nearly three-year period where Taylor Swift's music was absent from Spotify. This move came after the singer-songwriter, who had just achieved pop megastardom with her album ‘1989,’ decided to remove her catalogue from the streaming service in November 2014. Her decision was a protest against the low royalty payouts associated with Spotify's "freemium" model.

Mastering the art of taking control

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Following the sale of the master recordings for her first six albums, along with her former label Big Machine Label Group, to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in 2019, Taylor Swift declared her intention to re-record the songs included in the sale to regain master ownership. In a Tumblr post, she referred to the sale to Braun, with whom she had a strained relationship, as a "worst-case scenario."

She discovered a method to excel in various consumption metrics

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For a number of years in the 2010s, Taylor withdrew her music from streaming services, concerned that the free availability of her music might impact physical sales. However, in the 2020s, she discovered a strategy that allowed her to enjoy the best of both worlds: In 2022, ‘Midnights’ not only achieved the third-largest streaming week for an album with an impressive 549.26 million on-demand U.S. official streams in its debut week, but it also sold 1.14 million copies, including a record-breaking 575,000 on vinyl.

She changes the approach artists take in connecting with fans

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Recall the bygone era when artists maintained a distance from their fans, opting for an enigmatic rather than an approachable persona? Taylor Swift shattered that norm early in her career, emerging as one of the first prominent artists not only to utilise social media as a messaging tool but also as a means to directly engage with fans. She expanded this sense of intimacy and connection beyond platforms like Twitter and Instagram to real-life situations, demonstrating it through personalised gifts and letters to members of the Swiftie community.

She's a powerhouse

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Swift achieved a significant milestone by surpassing the $100 million mark in 2011 through her ‘Speak Now’ Tour. With the assistance of her longtime promoter and family friend Louis Messina from the Messina Touring Group, she went on to amass an impressive $150 million. Subsequently, her 2014-2015 ‘1989’ World Tour achieved remarkable success, generating a whopping $250 million in sales.

She catalyzed significant reforms in ticketing

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Taylor Swift has found herself entangled with scalpers nearly as much as her devoted fanbase, a persistent reality that positions her at the forefront of numerous reforms and initiatives within the concert industry. Well before the notorious crash of her Eras Tour ticket presale, an incident that spurred the introduction of numerous Federal and state bills and led to a significant Senate inquiry involving top executives in the touring world, Swift collaborated with Ticketmaster to develop strategies aimed at reducing the impact of scalping.

She demonstrated that an artist can evolve and explore different genres

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It's important to acknowledge that Taylor was never exclusively a country artist. While her 2006 self-titled album was presented as a country record, it unmistakably leaned towards pop, following the influence of Nashville predecessors like Shania Twain and Faith Hill. This trend persisted with ‘Fearless’, ‘Speak Now’, and ‘Red’, with the latter recognized as a transitional album, signalling her shift to full-fledged pop with the release of ‘1989’ in 2014.

She possesses elite marketing skills

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Across the distinct phases of her musical journey country, pop, folk, and re-recordings Taylor and her team have consistently demonstrated remarkable brand and marketing expertise, deploying numerous strategies that are too extensive to detail succinctly. Her profound understanding of her audience and the authentic connection she maintains with them have contributed to the establishment of a resilient and compelling personal brand.

She revolutionised the drafting of label contracts

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As per insights from leading music attorneys, this has prompted record labels to revise contracts by incorporating clauses that restrict new signees from re-recording their music for up to 30 years, a notably extended duration compared to the previous industry standard. While it may be challenging to envision many artists achieving Swift's level of success in this regard, the victory of her ‘Taylor’s Versions’ has served as a source of inspiration not only for fellow artists but also for label executives, who are now evidently determined to avoid a similar scenario in the future.

-Sushmita Sarkar